Expect Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call for property tax hikes to be a boon for Chicago’s collar counties and Lake County, Ind. Cook County residents have been fleeing to neighboring counties for decades, and Emanuel’s proposed hikes – to prop up city pensions – will only increase the outflow. According to IRS data, Cook County lost...

Health nuts and anti-tobacco fanatics, get out your streamers and champagne: Cook County’s new $1 per pack cigarette tax hike goes into effect today. Contrary to the so-called health conscious intentions of this tax’s creators, however, Cook County smokers will continue to buy cigarettes. Lots of them. Last year, Cook County brought in approximately $115 million...

Taxes are about to go up again on many items for Cook County residents under the county’s 2013 budget. The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved a $2.95 billion budget for fiscal year 2013 by a landslide 16-1 vote last week. The budget includes a series of new revenue initiatives– a $1 per pack tax...

FY2013 budget includes cigarette tax hike, guns and ammo taxes and more taxes on businesses

Since 2002, cigarette taxes increased 105 times across the country. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle wants to make it 106. To help fill Cook County’s $267.5 million budget shortfall, Preckwinkle has proposed increasing the per-pack tax on cigarettes by $1. The tax hike is only expected to bring in about $25 million in new revenue. Preckwinkle’s new money...

Cook County faces a projected $267.5 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2013. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has a solution: Fill the gap with higher taxes on cigarettes, guns, ammo, gambling and businesses. “We have structural problems that demand structural solutions” Preckwinkle said. The problems are structural, but Preckwinkle’s solutions are not. Tinkering with the tax...

by Kristina Rasmussen I don’t smoke. Never have. But I still oppose tobacco tax hikes. Why? The related revenue is used to run up government spending. Yet smoking is decreasing, and so are revenues. Non-smokers could be on the hook for general tax increases to fill the gap. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle turned this...

The problem Cook County is facing a budget shortfall. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has rightfully earned political goodwill for proposing serious changes to how county officials spend taxpayers’ money. She has challenged public employee union bosses to come to the negotiating table, and is utilizing private sector contractors to keep costs low. However,...

Newly elected Board President Toni Preckwinkle is saying and doing the right things when it comes to solving a budget crisis.